51Âþ»­

School pupils are preparing to put on a show like no other when they organise a robot war for The Duke of Edinburgh when The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations start at 51Âþ»­.

The excited teenagers from New College, in New Parks, Leicester, have been chosen to put on the demonstration for His Royal Highness on Thursday after attending a Robot Club run by 51Âþ»­.

The pupils – Claire Johnson, 15, Ben Pollock, 14, Nathan McCann, James Hopkins and Liam Potter, also 15  - have built and programmed two robots, called Viitor, Hungarian for future, and Sir Flipalot.

They will let battle commence when The Duke of Edinburgh attends a special gathering of staff, volunteers and residents from the university’s pioneering Square Mile project.

Her Majesty The Queen and Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge, will be attending a fashion show featuring collections from 51Âþ»­ graduates.

The Robot Club is one of 20 schemes which make up the Square Mile project, in which academics and students are using their skills and expertise to make a difference in a community living within a square mile area of Leicester.

Robot Club, run by Simon Coupland, a leading researcher from the university’s Faculty of Technology, is designed to spark school pupils’ interest in engineering and computer programming.

To add to the excitement for the young engineers, the Square Mile Project has also announced that Ben and Claire are being flown to Vienna to take part in an international robot competition on March 9.

Claire said: “When I was little I used to build little robots out of Lego, but they could not move. I joined Robot Club because I wanted to learn to build real robots and programme them to do something.

“Now I am going to meet The Duke of Edinburgh and then fly to Vienna. I am in absolute shock. I think I might just freeze on the day if the Duke asks me anything. I am really nervous.”

Ben said: “I am so excited that I am going to meet The Duke of Edinburgh. My parents did not believe me at first when I told them what was happening. It really is amazing that I start attending a Robot Club and end up meeting a Royal.”

Nathan said: “I feel great. This really is a one off opportunity that will probably never be repeated in my lifetime. Not many people are ever going to get the chance that I have this coming Thursday to show off my skills to the Duke of Edinburgh.”

The Robot War will be one of several presentations to be made to the Duke of Edinburgh about the Square Mile project. He will also learn about English language lessons for the Polish community, and a ‘Play Dough’ scheme which teaches primary school children about the importance of looking after money and investing it wisely.

Preparations for the visit of The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and The Duchess of Cambridge to the university are now well under way, with plans in place to ensure that the Jubilee tour gets off to the best possible start.

During their visit to 51Âþ»­, the Royal party will be greeted by around 8,000 cheering students and staff.

The Queen will also unveil a plaque outside the university’s Hugh Aston building, before the royal party leaves the campus for their next engagement at Leicester Cathedral.

More information about the royal visit to 51Âþ»­ on 8 March is available at   or at

There’s also a page for the whole of The Queen’s visit to Leicester, including the royal party’s visit to the city’s cathedral and the Clock Tower.

Pic caption: Pupils Ben Pollock,14, and Claire Johnson, 15, show off their robots with PhD student Jethro Shell from 51Âþ»­'s centre for computational intelligence.